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Home > Learn to Fish & Boat > Fish Species > Sockeye Salmon
The sockeye salmon is the most commercially valuable of all the Pacific salmons.
The body of breeding males is bright red with small black speckling (spots not large or distinct) on the back. The totally red body will distinguish the sockeye from the otherwise similar chum salmon, O. keta, and the lack of large distinct spots will distinguish it from the other three Pacific salmons.
The sockeye salmon is endemic to the Pacific Ocean and its tributaries for Hokkaido in Japan to the Anadyr River, Russia, and from the Sacramento River, California to Point Hope, Alaska. Freshwater, non-migratory populations, known as kokanee, occur naturally in Japan, Russia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the Yukon and British Columbia and have been introduced elsewhere, but largely unsuccessfully. The following list includes additional details on where to catch this fish:
Sockeye are plankton feeders. They can be caught on a small hook baited with a piece of worm, a maggot, or a small, flashy metal spoon. The landlocked kokanee can be taken by fly fishing at times when they are feeding on insects at the surface. The following are fishing methods used to catch this fish:
The following are lures, tackle or bait that can be used to catch this fish:
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